Fine jewelry rope chain for necklaces and bracelets have been known for a long time. The traditional rope chain, constructed from intertwined links soldered to one another has been historically manufactured by hand. More recently, such manufacture has been achieved through machines.
Such rope chains are formed of individual links which are intertwined together. The links can be of numerous shapes and configurations. Traditionally, round links were utilized. However, other shapes of links can be utilized. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,835 to Rosenwasser describes an oval link but also shows other elongated shapes for the link. In addition, square links, and other numerous configurations have been used.
The links themselves are made up of either drawn wire or the link can be stamped from a flat sheet of material. When it is drawn from a wire, the wire can be either solid or hollow. The solid wire likewise can have numerous cross-sectional configurations. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,995 to Del Monte describes various cross-sectional configurations for solid wire. Other cross-sectional shapes have also been known.
Hollow wire can also be used to form the link. In such cases, the hollow wire forms a tube. In one form, the tube is a solid periphery which is called "seamless". However, more typically, the hollow tubular wire is provided with a seam along its inner periphery.
The individual links of whatever shape, formed of solid or hollow wire of also whatever shape, are intertwined in accordance with well known principles. U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,517 to Benhamu et al. describes a standard technique of interconnecting the individual links and soldering them to form the well known configuration of the jewelry rope chain. Such chain, when the links are intertwined, forms a double helix in configuration and appearance. The number and size of links that are utilized will determine the overall size of the peripheral configuration of the rope chain itself. In the aforementioned Benhamu U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,517 he discusses odd numbers of links. However, in Rosenwasser U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,135 there is also described the use of an even number of links.
The individual exterior surfaces of the links cumulatively form the peripheral surface of the rope chain. Accordingly, when the individual links are made of round or other arcuate shaped wire, the exterior appearance of the rope chain will show the individual undulations of the roundness of the individual wires. This is best shown in the schematic drawing of FIG. 1 which shows a typical classical prior art rope chain with a circular cross-sectional configuration made of found links each of solid wire with each of the wires being of a circular cross-section. If the cross-section of the wire used to form the links is square or rectangular, the individual undulations will be flatter but there still will appear individual undulations for each of the links making the periphery of the chain, as shown in FIG. 1.
In order to provide an improved finish, it has been well known in the prior art to form a highly polished surface along various sides of the rope chain. Typically this is achieved by means of a cut which is referred to as a "diamond cut", which forms a faceted surface along the links that are cut. This faceted surface is highly polished and gives a shine which reflects light with great intensity. Various techniques have been known to provide a faceted finish to the rope chain. Typically, a flat blade will be used to cut the individual links and provide the flat facets.
One method of providing such facets is to use the ice lathe cutting machine. In such machine, the rope chain, once it is completed, is wrapped around a drum. The rope chain is then frozen in place on the drum. A cutting tool is positioned in a carriage beneath the drum. The drum is rotated so that the chain rotates with respect to the tool. At the same time, the flat cutting tool moves longitudinally with respect to the carriage. The movement is coordinated so that a surface of the rope chain is cut and flattened to form a flat brilliant facet along that surface.
The rope chain is then removed and repositioned on the drum and again the cutting can proceed along another surface of the rope chain to provide another facet. The number of facets that are provided will depend upon the size of the blade, the positioning of the rope chain, and numerous other factors. Typically, four facets are formed around the periphery of the rope chain in the nature of a square, as shown in FIG. 2. However, additional facets can be formed as shown in FIG. 3 where eight facets have been shown. It is noted that the size of the facet on each link differs from the next.
The particular link configurations that have been shown in FIGS. 1-3 are links formed of solid wire configurations. In trying to provide such flat facets in a hollow wire configuration where the wire wall is rather thin, as the blade moves across the links, and as it cuts a surface portion of the link, it may actually cut through the link material making a perforation or hole instead of just a facet.
One method of achieving the flat facets on a hollow rope chain is described in Strobel U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,220. Such method involves flattening the hollow rope chain by moving one outer wall closer to an inner wall of the link material thereby producing the effect of a flattened portion.
In addition to the four, six and eight sided facets heretofore described, other faceting configurations have been provided. U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,625 describes what is referred to as a "spiral facet". In that case, a technique is used to cut all of the links entirely around the peripheral of the chain and provide a substantially similar flattened surface on every consecutive link. The result is shown in FIG. 4. It should be noted that in this case there are again flattened surfaces along each link. However, every link is faceted around the entire periphery as compared to FIG. 2 or 3 where only certain sides were faceted or groups were faceted, and the extent of the face is essentially the same as all links.
In all of these prior art methods, the diamond cut or facet formed on the exterior of the link provided a flattened surface. However, there is yet another type of faceting that has been described in the prior art by Gonzales U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,526,639 and 5,471,830. Such facets are referred to as "round facets". Again, similar to the spiral facet of FIG. 4, this configuration provides a facet on the exterior of every link around the entire periphery of the chain with each facet being essentially the same. However, in this case, rather than provide flat facets as in FIG. 4, it provides curved facets as shown in FIG. 5. Thus, the entire periphery of the chain is faceted with each facet being curved so that the entire periphery provides a continuously curved surface which has been diamond cut.
It should be appreciated, that especially in the spiral diamond cut of FIG. 4 and the round diamond cut of FIG. 6, not a great amount of the exterior of the links will be cut. As such, rather than a deep diamond cut only a limited amount is removed providing almost a reflective finish to the jewelry rope chain rather than a deep cut. As such, such reflective finishes removing only a slight amount of the periphery can even be used for a hollow rope chain, not only solid rope chain. It should be appreciated that herein the use of the term facet covers all such cuts including the forming of the reflective finish.
The particular method described by Gonzales in achieving his round facets is again to use the ice lathe method. However, in this case he uses a curved or arcuate blade on the cutting tool which cuts an arcuate section about the periphery of the rope chain as the rope chain, wound on the drum, is rotated with respect to the longitudinal movement of the cutting tool. After each cut, the chain is removed, repositioned on the drum, and again rotated with respect to the longitudinal movement of the curved blade to cut another section off the exterior periphery of the rope chain.